Weekly Update 5/19

Dear NCHS Family,

After an extensive and thorough search process, Dr. Bryan Luizzi, New Canaan Public Schools Superintendent, is pleased to announce the appointment of David Gusitsch as the new Assistant Principal of New Canaan High School. Mr. Gusitsch replaces Dr. Veronica LeDuc, who is retiring this year. For more information on Mr. Gusitsch, please click here.

National Honor Society:

This week we were able to celebrate our National Honor Society Inductees. These students have shown to be exemplary in the four pillars of NHS.  They have attributes in scholarship, service, leadership and character. While all of our students are wonderful, these students have worked hard and shown traits that we all aspire to. See below in pictures from around NCHS  for a picture of the induction ceremony.  

Governor’s Scholar:

The Governor’s Scholars Program recognizes academically talented high school students in schools throughout the state. Principals of CAS member high schools are given the opportunity to nominate one junior who ranks in the top five percent of his or her class. Those members of the Governor’s Scholars Committee who are professional educators from Connecticut judge the completed applications and assign a composite score to each student’s PSAT or SAT score and the student essay. A select group of the top students are selected as “Governor’s Scholars” and received recognition. Congratulations to NCHS Governor’s Scholar Caroline Callahan, who was joined by her family, Principal Egan and her guidance counselor Mr. Willett at the Aqua Turf Club on Thursday.

Senior Prom:

We look forward to celebrating with the Senior class at their Senior Prom tonite. The prom will take place at the Stamford Marriott and we know that students will enjoy the prom and post-prom festivities put on by the PFA.

Graduation Date:

NCHS Graduation is set for Tuesday, June 20 at Dunning Stadium at 5:00 pm.

Best,

Bill Egan

Principal

Upcoming Events:

5/19 Tonight - Senior Prom/Post Prom 7 pm Stamford Marriott

5/25 New Age Film Festival 5pm Wagner Room

5/29 No school - Memorial Day

Pictures From Around NCHS This Week:

National Honor Society Inductee Ceremony at New Canaan High School on Monday

CT Governor’s Scholar Honors Caroline Callahan on Thursday

Department Updates:

Social Studies Department News:

Mr. Staffaroni, Mr. Joshi, and Dr. Schneider have created a unit for their seniors who are not going on the internship.  It combines economics, government, and history and will focus on lessons learned from the book: The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Trade by Pietro Rivoli.  They will examine the key elements of globalization and then make recommendations to President Trump regarding the US participation in world trade.

With seniors out on internships, the remaining juniors in several section of Psychology classes are conducting a close examination of the impact of smartphone usage on teenage lives. They are pursuing several avenues of inquiry including the impact on development, social functioning, stress, distraction, and health.

Sophomores are preparing for next week’s Model United Nations Simulation. The Model United Nations club has created and will lead four amazing simulations and a press corps to have students examine historical events and international issues from multiple perspectives in this day-long, annual simulation. This year, rooms will focus on the French Revolution, the European Union, JFK’s cabinet and FIFA.

Science Department News:  

The NCHS Science department would first like to congratulate the recent National Honor Society Inductees on their academic accomplishments.  In addition, we have some accomplishments within the department that we would like to acknowledge as well.  10th grader Katie Unger was nominated by the department to represent NCHS at the American Chemical Society Excellence in First Year Chemistry Competition last week at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield.  This competition is consists of both a written exam and a verbal “interview” exam.  Congratulations Katie!!!

The accolades continued to roll in for our AP Physics students this week as well.  The NCHS AP Physics Students recently participated in the AAPT International Physics Bowl Competition.  500 Schools from around the world participated and New Canaan had 115 students participating and fared very well within the New England region.  Our Division 1 team (first year Physics students), placed 4th in New England while our Division 2 Team (2nd year Physics students) placed 4th as well.  Members of each team are below.  Congratulations on the superb results.

The members of our Division 1 team included: William Crane-Morris Eric Cimino Anne Greer Max Koschnitzke Joe Peiser Luke Stewart Mike Talamo Max Koschnitzke was the highest scorer for New Canaan!

The members of our Division 2 team Included: Jackson Appelt Jake Grigsby Dana Lurie Jack Rechtermann Andrew Shizari Dana Lurie was the highest scorer for New Canaan!

Our classrooms were also very busy this week as our Biology classes continued their study of the body systems and our Honors Earth Science Class began their preparation for their end of the year performance task.  

The NCHS Biology classes worked through another dissection activity this week, focusing on the comparative anatomy of a chicken and human.  While many differences exist between the anatomy of a chicken and humans, one very familiar struction that show similarities is the chicken wing.  The bone structure, muscle pairings and range of motion is very comparable to that of a human, which makes the chicken wing a great model for our own arm.  Utilizing the range of motion of the chicken wing, students are then asked to describe the comparable motion of the human arm.  

Mrs. McLellan’s Honors Earth Science class began their study of Velocity and acceleration utilizing our race cars and tracks this week.  This diversion into the physical sciences is an annual right for our Honors Earth Science students and ends with the ultimate performance task.  Students will be using their knowledge of both velocity and acceleration to prepare for the Water Balloon Launch in a couple of weeks.  Stay tuned for these pictures as the students are hoping to incorporate a special administrator in the the performance task.  Have a great weekend.

 

       

School Counseling News:

Counselors were busy signing off with seniors who were finishing AP exams and preparing to leave to go on internship. There were mixed emotions as students said goodbye to teachers and counselors - they were excited to be done but many were worried about the many changes about to happen for them. Counselors were also busy with sophomores as they introduced them to the college and career search tools available in Naviance and laid out the roadmap for junior year. Juniors are meeting with counselors to update them on their college search this year and make preparations for the summer.

World Language News:

For the 6th consecutive year high school students of Mandarin have been preparing simple lessons to teach the 3rd graders at West, East and South Schools some basic Mandarin through the use of games, picture books and technology.

It gives the high school students an opportunity to teach for a day and prepare engaging lessons. The 3rd graders also enjoy learning an exotic language from other students.  We hope to continue this tradition again next year.